Puzzling Makeover

I am so stressed out the pain in my shoulder is back. I bought a new couch for the basement before The Man's return. The basement sofabed was a wreck. You can't sit on it without a piece of board under the seat, and you can't use the bed without falling through the mattress and getting stabbed by the wires on the bed frame. I was fine getting rid of it and bringing in a new sofabed.

But that wasn't enough for The Man. I don't know what's come over him. In a fit of negotiating, he talked a shop down on a discounted couch. In short, he got $600 off the couch and now, a new couch sits in the living room too. The Boy said, What does this couch do? I told him it's just a couch, it doesn't convert to anything. The Boy is not interested in sitting on it.

Only, I am reluctant to part with the old couch that was in the living room. It is 20 years old, it is spongy to sit on, it does look old and sad. But it was my first furniture purchase. It too is a sofabed; the bed has barely been used. This old couch now sits in the dining room, beside the dining room table. The room is a bit cramped and I feel like a refugee camping in someone's house. I have offered the couch to a friend who could use it at her cottage. But how to get the couch there?

Still, that wasn't enough for The Man. He has bought a new dining room table and chairs set. I've only seen pictures of this set and put my foot down. I don't want two dining room sets in the house. He's agreed to sell the one we have before bringing the new set in. The new set is a vintage set, custom made in the 1950's. It looks okay. I have no eye for used furniture. I just know he's getting rid of a set that we bought new in exchange for a used set. He promises it is narrower than what we have, which means it will fit in our dining room better.

I don't know why we need new furniture. I don't know how we'll pay for all these big purchases, cut the Manitoba maple, and go on vacation this summer. But I can't deny him his pleasure, especially when I'm not fussy about furniture. In the past, we've had too many fights over similar desires of purchase that resulted in drawn out cold wars and neither of us being happy.

In the long run, I benefit from his design decisions. That is, our history is that while I argue against his purchases and don't see a need for new things, I almost always end up enjoying the changes he makes more than he does.

I guess he is confident of a new contract next month. He said he works hard and needs to feel the security of beautiful possessions around him. I prefer the security of money in the bank. Meanwhile, I cringe with pain because that's my way of paying for his extravagances.